My Affinity for Monkeys

-
People might wonder why monkeys show up on my greeting cards on a fairly regular basis.

Monkeys have been a family joke for a few generations now. You just can't shake the fact that a gibbon is a type of monkey, and my last name is a troop of them.

When I was in first grade in Catholic school, one of the many mean girls yelled at me and said "I am going to look your name up in the dictionary!" and gleefully pointed out to the class that not only was my name IN the dictionary, but I also had my picture in it...a funny looking kind of ape-like creature. It destroyed me for years.

At some point I figured if you can't beat them, join them, and I practiced walking on my hands and screeching like the monkeys on Wild Kingdom. One crazy night after a long night of dancing and partying, I entertained a bunch of people with my well practiced calls. That is a moment I am NOT proud of.

Now my sister and I send each other monkey cards, monkey magnets, stuffed monkeys, monkey bookmarks......and whenever I find an antique print of a monkey you KNOW I am going to gleefully make it into a card. Once someone bought a whole bunch of my monkey cards, but usually they sit in cyberspace till I take them off and sigh, and send it onto one of my brothers or sisters.

Todays card is a patriotic monkey and is listed on ebay (link to the right) . Perhaps I will send it onto our one and only GW.But then again, that could be a waste of one good monkey.

p.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

La Cucina

-
Image
Tonight my house had the aroma of olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and candles. Keith Jarret was playing in the background, and I had just opened a nice bottle of reasonable red wine. (Osborne Solaz, 2004 Temranillo/Cab- 7.00) I needed it for the sauce, so why not have some while cooking! I took good care of myself all weekend, and felt like cooking for the first time in what seems forever. I am an excellent cook. A collage cook one might say, or better yet, a bricollage cook. I take what is in the house and make a dinner out of it. I think about flavor, texture, color and variety. Most of the time I would rather put this creative energy into visual arts, but on occasion I will push my fine art aside, and the art of the evening is cooking. Candles, music, wine, and a lovely table. I must think more like Monet, and not only make the meal art, but somehow make it my visual art too. The best I could do was a photo of the beginning of the sauce. It looks rather bizarre if you ask me,
Read more

Cape Painting

-
Image
My framing blogs will continue when I’m back in the studio next week. In the mean time, I am enjoying adventures on the Cape. Again I opted to not bring oils as the place I am staying is not conducive to oil painting, so I bought watercolors and my acrylics, although I have not used the acrylics yet. I have a small messenger type bag, that I can put in a few palettes of my Kramer watercolors, several water brushes, a few paper towels, a 6x6 watercolor pad, and a watercolor postcards. This time I bought watercolor greeting cards to paint on too. I can wear this light bag across my body, and hike for miles, plopping myself down on a bench, rock, or table, and paint the scene at hand in an instant. I got to experience the tail end of hurricane Dorian too, the roiling ocean and wind captured on camera and paper, etched in my dna now. I will be bringing home new ideas, new small pieces, hundreds of photographs, ready to settle in for a fall of painting and design work for m
Read more

Framing: Sources for Frames

-
Image
When I was primarily showing fine art collages, and framing antique prints, I collected a wide variety of frames for my work- rarely were two frames were ever the same. But over the years, I have whittled down that collection, as I find myself  using either white (for abstract work) or black floater frames for my paintings. It is more professional to have a "even" look in framing one's work, especially if you are showing several works, or having a solo show. On occasion you can find frames in places like Ikea, or the Christmas Tree Shop, or other such venues. If I find good ones, I will buy them up and keep them for future work. But most of the times I either buy them at Michael's , or American Frame .  On occasion if I am flush, or need a specialty frame, or it needs special care, I will gladly go to the local art supply or framing store. But I usually don't have the money to do that...so I order and frame myself. Michael's has their sales and 40%
Read more